The change will have great implications for the IoT. Thanks to four times wider range, it will deliver more robust, reliable IoT connections as homes and buildings get smarter. Higher speeds will be beneficial for boosting data faster speeds and software updates for devices.

Bluetooth 5 is also capable of transmitting 8 times as much data. This is a good support for connectionless services like beacons, which can help people navigate inside buildings or outside. Apart from these benefits, being more energy-efficient, the new standard is also better in battery life.

“Bluetooth 5 will transform the way people experience the IoT by making it something that happens simply and seamlessly around them,” said Mark Powell, executive director of the Bluetooth SIG.

Added Powell: “With 8.2 billion Bluetooth products already in use, the enhancements in Bluetooth 5 means that Bluetooth will be in more than one-third of all installed IoT devices by 2020.”

ABI Research predicts more than 371 million Bluetooth beacons by 2020. According to Patrick Connolly, Principal Analyst: “With eight times the broadcast messaging capacity, Bluetooth 5 will further propel the adoption and deployment of beacons and location-based services in the home automation, enterprise, and industrial markets.”

The full Bluetooth 5 standard will be released either in late 2016 or in the early 2017. For more information about Bluetooth 5, click here.